If you go down to the woods today
by Snavej
Summary: A camping trip with her friends should have been all fun and games! Yet things take a turn for the worst as Mai goes searching for water... [Vampire AU one-shot for Halloween! Warning for mention of blood!]


Mai knew that the whole camping trip idea had been a bad one. Had Michiru and Keiko not been so adamant it would be fun, she would never have come.

As now she was in the middle of a forest, searching for the stream that was 'only five minutes away' according to Keiko. She had left camp almost half an hour ago and there was no sign of this damn stream.

Mai glanced down at her map and compass.

She was definitely going east.

"Maybe I should head back," she mumbled to herself.

Just as she thought about turning around, she heard a loud crack.

"Hello?"

It had been a twig or something, right? Mai searched through the trees for any sign of the animal that had caused the noise. It would have to have been an animal.

"Keiko? Michiru? Is that you?"

Then Mai saw it. A flap of cloth on a tree just out of the corner of her eye.

"Hello?"

She started towards it. But no sooner had she moved, then it was gone.

All thoughts of the water forgotten, Mai continued in the direction of the cloth she had seen; determined to work out what had caused her to believe it to be there.

"There's nothing here…"

Mai looked around. The tall trees had created an isotropic maze. No distinguishing features were available to help Mai out of the muddle she had gotten herself into.

Then she saw it again. A flash of black out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Wait!"

The sprinted after the thing she had seen, but it darted through the trees quicker than her eyes could keep up with.

Then, all of a sudden, the trees disappeared.

A hand had blinded Mai. She opened her mouth to scream for help. Another hand muffled her attempts.

"Show me your teeth."

The words did not make sense to Mai. Yet as soon as the hands over eyes moved, she felt something cold and sharp at her neck.

"Show me your teeth." The voice repeated. "Scream and I'll slash your throat."

The other hand removed itself from Mai's mouth and she bared her teeth, nonplussed.

"You're human," the voice accused.

The knife disappeared from her throat. Mai rushed forward to escape her attacker.

"Wait!"

Mai's body spun back around subconsciously.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

The man was tall, dark haired and appeared to be a few years older than she was, perhaps his mid-twenties.

"Do you know these parts? I'm looking for a house, like a big mansion house. It's somewhere in these woods."

Mai frowned, suspicious of the man and wanting nothing more than to escape his sight.

"It's that way," she lied, pointing as she looked around and pretended to get her bearings. "Keep going until you hit the river, then head upstream."

Much to her surprise, he nodded in thanks and headed in that direction. Mai watched him go for a minute, before running the opposite way.

Once she was sure the stranger was out of sight, Mai thought she ought to return to camp. That meant going west. She checked her compass and was about to start walking when she heard something.

Running water.

"No way…"

Mai ran towards the sound and soon found a river.

"Is this the one I was looking for…?" she asked herself. She looked at her map, but something was wrong. She double checked the direction of the stream and then glanced at the map again.

She was on the opposite side of the river to where her camp would be.

"Shit."

Confused as to how she had crossed the river, Mai began walking upstream, knowing that she would be more likely to cross it where it was narrower.

Ears piqued for sounds of that strange man, Mai walked briskly. She wanted to be back at the camp, laughing about this whole ordeal with Keiko and Michiru.

That was a lie.

She wanted to be at home, in her bed, knowing that her front door was locked.

Mai's mouth fell open as the trees gave way to a clearing. Her own words floated back to her.

"Keep going until you hit the river, then head upstream."

Mai closed her eyes tight and opened them again.

But the mansion house was still there.

"Shit."

Her instincts told her to run. That this place was not safe. Yet her feet carried her forwards.

The mansion was grey with soot. The curtains in the windows were all drawn shut. Yet the front door was open, inviting her in.

Mai shuffled forward, crossing the grassy glade between the edge of the forest and the mansion's porch.

Once at the doorway, she peered inside.

"Hello?"

No one answered.

Mai stepped forwards and let her eyes adjust to the sudden dip in light levels.

She had expected dusty furniture and cobwebs. But the house was immaculate. Stepping carefully, scared to make a floorboard squeak, Mai crept into the first room on her right.

It was a lounge, like something from a period drama. The next was a similar room, though in blue, not pink. Mai found stairs down to what she presumed would be the servants' quarters. Then a dining room, fit for an emperor.

"Woah…"

From what Mai could make out, the next room was large enough to fit her entire flat in. The walls were covered in books from the floor to the ceiling.

"Like Beauty and the Beast…" Mai mumbled to herself.

She ran a finger along the spines of some of the books, not recognising the titles. Most were not even in Japanese. She picked out English, French and Arabic amongst the languages.

"I'd rather you did not touch those."

Mai screamed. Spinning around, she searched for the source of the voice. But the dim light did her no favours.

"Who are you? Where are you?" she whimpered.

"How did you find this place?"

The voice was low and male. Mai peered through the darkness, but could not make out anything that was remotely human shaped.

"A-Accident," Mai replied. "I got l-lost in the f-forest."

It was only after she had spoken that Mai realised admitting that she was alone and lost might not have been the best idea.

She almost wished the creepy stranger was here.

"Lost, you say?"

"My f-friends will be looking for me!"

"And you just decided to walk into my house and explore? That is trespassing."

"I'll leave n-now. I'm sorry!"

Mai started towards the doorway. She wanted to run but was not sure her feet could carry her at anything faster than a hasty walk.

"I don't think so."

She had to risk it.

Mai ran. Out of the library and into the corridor.

But a cold hand caught her.

She screamed again. The hand forced her against the wall.

Mai could finally see her attacker in the half light. He was ghostly pale, dark-haired and handsome.

And had gorgeous, deep blue eyes that reached into her very core.

Her panic dissipated as she stared into his eyes.

What had she been worried about...?

She couldn't remember…

She forgot to…

She…

Fangs bit into her neck. Mai felt the pain, but it was very far away. She could feel a tongue licking the skin where blood had trickled from the wound.

"Why…?"

The question escaped her lips through her confused haze.

"Because it is not often prey walks to willingly into our lair," her attacker growled.

Mai's eyelids fought to stay awake. Yet sleep called her name. Her body felt weak.

So tired…

* * *

"Yasuhara Osamu! Are you in here?! I'm with the police!"

Noll swore. He dropped the girl and wiped his lips.

 _We have a policeman in the house,_ he mentally messaged his twin.

 _What?_ Gene replied, sounding groggy. _Why aren't you asleep?_

 _He's after your boyfriend,_ Noll sent back. _This is your problem._

But Noll cloaked himself in shadows and edged forward nonetheless. His eyesight was far superior to that of the human. He would see this policeman before the policeman would see him.

The human was still standing in the sunlight of the doorway. Noll cursed Madoka. She always left the door open.

 _I told you we did not need any more people to support in this place,_ Noll sent to Gene. He could not help himself.

Gene chose to ignore him. But Noll knew he was close.

 _How do we want to deal with him?_

 _Drain him,_ Gene replied. _We don't need any more people to support,_ he added, voice laced with sarcasm.

 _We need to get him out of the sunlight,_ Noll commented.

But before either of them could act, a blur pushed past Noll. He watched in horror as the girl he had thought he had drained leapt on the policeman and tore into his neck.

The policeman screamed and fought to escape her clutch. But the girl was in a mad frenzy. Blood splattered all over the floor as she gorged.

 _Who is that?_ Gene asked.

 _An intruder,_ Noll replied. _I thought I had drained her…_

 _Well, she's your responsibility now,_ Gene muttered. Noll could not help but think he sounded amused.

The girl staggered from the fallen policeman.

"Shut the door," Noll instructed.

She looked up at him and frowned, her eyes showed her fear. But her hands obeyed his order.

Once safe from the sunlight, Noll strode over. He checked the policeman for a pulse.

"Sufficiently drained," he muttered.

"I… I just…"

"Yes."

"But I… He's… Oh no! I killed him!" she wailed.

Her body began to shake.

"Yes, you did."

"What did you do to me?!"

"I intended to kill you, but we were interrupted. So you turned," Noll said simply.

"Turned?"

Noll rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you're a vampire now. Though the changes will take a little while to set in fully. That is why you were able to stand the sunlight just then."

"What?"

"Are you stu-"

"Noll? What's going on? Why aren't you asleep?" a new voice called.

Noll turned to see Madoka at the top of the staircase.

"You left the door open," he muttered. "Resulting in two intruders. One of whom turned and killed the other."

Madoka looked from Noll to the shivering girl.

"Oh you poor dear," she flew down the stairs and embraced the girl. "What's your name?"

"Mai."

"Come on, Mai," Madoka coaxed. "Let's get you cleaned up. Now do you have any family? Anyone looking for you?"

"She mentioned friends," Noll interrupted.

Madoka shushed him.

"I don't have any family," Mai whispered. "They died."

"Good, good…" Madoka led her down the corridor to the kitchen, leaving Noll to clean up the mess that had been the policeman. "Now your friends?"

"Keiko and Michiru… We were camping…"

"Just the three of you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, don't worry," Madoka said, her voice soothing. "We'll take care of them."

Once they had cleaned the blood off, Madoka led Mai upstairs to a spare bedroom. She gave her fresh clothing to change into and guided her into the bed.

"You must be tired, rest," Madoka instructed. "We'll explain more once you've rested."

Mai's eyes drooped as if on command.

Within a minute, she was asleep.

* * *

When Mai woke, she found that her surroundings looked brighter, though there was no light from the windows or any other visible source.

"Hello?"

"You're awake."

Mai located the sound of the voice. The young man that had bitten her was stood by the window.

"They've left," he told her.

"Huh?"

"The others, they left, to find your friends."

"To tell them what happened?"

"Not quite."

Mai pulled the covers from her body and hastened to his side.

"What do you mean, not quite?"

He sighed.

"When we first settled here, there was not many of us. Me and Gene, Madoka and Lin."

He paused, flicked the curtain back and glanced around.

"But our numbers grew. The Australian priest, the doctor, the musician, that actress… Then Gene went hunting and brought back Yasuhara."

He turned to face Mai.

"The forest around here is devoid of humans and we can only survive on animal blood for so long."

"No…" Mai moaned as realisation sunk in.

"So they've gone hunting. Someone had to remain here, to invite them back in…"

Mai shrank back.

"No…"

"It'll be a quick death. They will not suffer."

Mai fell to the floor and sobbed.

* * *

A few hundred yards away, two screams filled the night.

* * *

 **Author's note: Vampire AU for Halloween! Thank you to everyone at GHHQ for your help! And in case everyone was wondering, the policeman was Hirota. I killed him just for TeaAddictedGhostHunter. I'm not sorry :P**

 **Please review :)**


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